Third to william i-i



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. O. W. POWELL.

RAIL BRAKE FOR STREET CARS. No. 442,542. Patented Dec. 9, 1890.

(No Model.) 3-she'etssneet;2.

0. W. POWELL. RAIL BRAKE FOR STREET CARS.

No. 442,542. Patented Dec; 9, 1890.

(NoModeL) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 O. W. POWELL.

RAIL BRAKE FOR STREET (mas. No. 442,542; Patented Dec. 9, 1890.

hine J; as r UNITED STAT S PATENT FFlCEe CHARLES \V. POlVELL, OF GREEN ISLAND, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- THIRD TO VILLIAM H. POVELL, OF SAME PLACE.

RAI L-BRAKE FOR STREET-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 442,542, dated December 9, 1890.

Application filed September 24,1890- Serial No. 365,986. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES W. POWELL,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Green Island, county of Albany, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Street-Car Slipper- Brakes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to such improvements; and it consists of the novel construction and combination of parts, hereinafter described and subsequently claimed.

Reference may be had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification. v

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several figures therein.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a top plan view of a street-car truck supplied with my improved brake with the floor-timbers of the car in position upon the truck and broken away in parts for convenience in illustration. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the truck and lower part of a car, taken along the broken line 2 2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is avertical section of the truck and lower part of the car, taken along the broken line b 3 in Fig. 1, showing a modification. Fig. at is a top plan view of the brake detached, showing the brake-supporting slide-bar and laterallyprojecting bifurcate stud. Fig. 5 is a top plan View of the slideway-block which supports the slide-bar, shown detached.

A is the car-truck, which may be of any known desired form, adapted to support a car-body A, (shown in part only,) and be supported by car-wheels A running upon trackrails A A is the floor of the car, which is supported by the floor-timbers A. The timbers are projected at each end of the car to support the end platformsr partly broken away. A brake-shaft A which may be of any known form, is supported in the usual manner upon each platform.

My improved brake is of that class which is applied to the track-rails instead of the car-wheels, and when used on street-cars is 50 known as a slippenbrake.

B is the brake-shoe, which is provided with a supporting slide-bar B, adapted to slide vertically in a slideway B contained in the block The block is fixed upon the inner side of the truck-frame by means of the threaded lugs or bolts B and nuts B screwed thereon. The slide-bar is provided on its upper end with a shank which supports a coil-spring 15 The spring bears at its upper end upon a nut or head B 011 the sprin -sup- 6o porting shank and at its lower end upon a cross-bar B which is secured to the truckframe and perforated to receive and guide the spring-supporting shank. The resilient force of the spring tends to lift the brake- 65. supporting bar and cause it to slide upward in its slideway, thereby holding the brake in an elevated position above the rail.

As ameans for forcing the brake down into contact with the rail, I provide a bell-crank 7o lever having the long arm C and the short arm C. The lever is fulcruined upon the pivot C fixed upon the slideway-block B The short arm of the lever is provided with a slot C adapted to receive the stud C pro- 7 5 jecting laterally from the brake-supporting slide-bar. The long arm of the lever may be connected in any known manner, as by chain, with the brake-shaft A The brake-shaft is supplied with the usual operating-handle C (indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1) and a retaining-pawl and ratchet C.

By winding the chain upon the brake-shaft v in the usual manner the brake-shoe is forced down upon the rail and slips thereon until the .car is stopped.

Street-cars are required to travel in either direction, and means must be provided for operating the brake from each end of the 0 car. I therefore provide two brakes and bi'akeoperating levers, such as I have described, located opposite each other, one on each side of the car over each track-rail, and connect both brakes by a system of links and 9 5 levers with two brake shafts, one at each end of the car.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown the long arms of the bell-crank respectively secured by links D and D with the opposite ends of 10 the connecting-levers D lhe latter levers are fulcrumed intermediatelyof their ends,

as at D upon the middle floor-timber D. One end of each connecting-lever is secured to one of the brake-shafts by a chain 1), as shown,s0 that both brakes can be operated at once by either brake-shaft, the bell-crank levers being so arranged that their long arms move in opposite directions toward the opposite endsof the car.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a modified arrange ment of connecting-levers, wherein the connecting-levers F F are fulcrumed intermediately of their ends upon the hangers F secured to the cross-bar B One end of the levers is pivoted to the prongs F of the bifurcated stud F which stud is like the stud C", Fig. 2, excepting the prongs. The other ends of the connecting-levers are pivoted together at Each of the long arms of the bellcranks is connected directly with the brakeshaft, as shown in Fig. 3. \Vhen the brake shown on the right-hand side of Fig. 3 is forced down upon the rail by turning the brake-shaft shown in such figure, an equal downward movement is transmitted to the other brake through the connecting-levers F and F. When the left-hand brake is forced downward byt-he brake-shafton the end of the car, (not shown in Fig. 3,):-\ similar movement is communicated to the right-hand brake through the connecting-levers.

The levers F and F are slotted at their pivotal connections with the stud-forks and wit-h each other to permit a sliding adjustment of the parts when the levers are swung upon the fulcrums.

By having the brake-supporting slide-bar and its slidewayB beveled,as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the bar is held in place without neeessitating the use of a retaining-plate. By having a double lever-connection between the brakes, whenever a downward movement is communicated to one brake a similar movement is communicated through the two levers to the other brake. hen desired, the connectingdever D Fig. 1, and short link D on one end of the car may be dispensed with by connecting the longer link D on that end directly with the brake-shaft, as indicated by dotted lines II in such figure, making the short link Don the other end of the car of a rigid bar, as indicated by the dotted line H. The brake-shaft on that end of the car having the rigid-bar connection, which is the lefthand end, as seen in Fig. 1, serves to operate one brake by tension upon link D and the otherbrake by compression, through lever D upon the rigid bar.

hat I claim as new is 1. In a street-car, a pair of brake-supporting ways'seeured to the car, in combination with a pair of brakesvertically movable in such ways, one on one side and the other on the opposite side of the car, in the same ver tical planes with the car-wheels, a pair of brake-shafts, one at each end of the car, a lever-connection between each brake-shaft and one of the brakes, and lever-connections between the two brakes, whereby a downward movement can be simultaneously communicated to both brakes by either brake-shaft,

substantially as described.

2. In a street-ear, the combination, with a pair of springcontrolled verticallymovable brakes, one on one side and the other on the opposite side of the car, in the same vertical planes with the car-wheels,of brake-supporting ways secured to the car, a pair of bellcrank levers pivoted upon the car, a connection between the short arm of each crank-lever and one of the brakes, a pair of connecting-levers pivoted intermediately of the ends upon the carat points near the ends of the car on the opposite sides of the bell-cranks, links connecting'the long arm of each bellcranklever with one end of each connecting lever, a pair of brake-shafts, one at each end of the car, and a connection between each brake-shaft and a connecting-lever, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 22d (lay of September, 1890.

CHARLES W. POWELL.

\Vitnesses:

FRANK C. CURTIS, JOHN T. BOOTH. 

